Emmanuel Mayuka looks set to be banished to the snowy wastes of Russia as he is rumoured to be joining Spartak Moscow.

Emmanuel Mayuka was a strange signing for Saints and was perhaps one of the factors in the total breakdown of relations between Nigel Adkins and Nicola Cortese.

Billy Sharp had every right to be given a chance to prove himself in the Premier League after his goals fired Saints to promotion, but the manager found himself isolated and Sharp was told in no uncertain terms that he would not even be allowed to remain at the club and fight for his place.

In came Emmanuel Mayuka who in fairness had a reasonable record in Swiss football for a fee allegedly of around £3.5 -4 million. The Zambian made his debut against Manchester United and his pace in that 15 minute spell initially suggested that he might have something, however that was soon to be dispelled and it soon became clear that parralels could be drawn between Mayuka and another signing two years earlier Guly Du Prado in that in seemed that neither were wanted by the manager.

His appearances were sporadic and always off the bench over the next few months when suddenly in the week before Christmas he appeared in the starting line up against Sunderland at St Mary's with the reason given that he had looked good in training.

Nigel Adkins seemed hacked off and the word was that the manager had been ordered to play Mayuka, his appearance lasted 55 minutes and he was replaced by Steve De Ridder another strange signing.

Adkins was soon gone but it didn't help Mayuka, he would never start another first team game to date, although under Mauricio Pochettino he had four little sub roles in the final games of the season.

But his Saints career was effectively over he was shipped out to Sochaux for the 2013/14 season.

Last season with injuries hitting hard Ronald Koeman gave him a chance off the bench in the final ten minutes of several games with no other attacking options available, but it was clear that he was still not up to the standard needed with ironically what now appears to be his last Saints game identical to his first coming on as sub against Man Utd.

So for our not insubstancial money we got 1 start in the Premier league plus 15 appearances as sub plus another 2(1) games in the League cup, in one of those games he scored his solitary goal in a 5-1 win at Barnsley.

All in all he has not been the greatest signing for the club and he will go down in the history books as one that appeared to have been made by the Chairman at the time rather than the manager.

Now it seems he is joining Spartak Moscow, whether we are getting a fee is unclear, but with two years left on his contract and having made little contribution in the first three years it is likely that Saints will be happy to let him go for little or no money to get him off the books.

To be fair to Mayuka he didnt kick up a fuss he appeared to cause no problems off the pitch, but the reality was he was far from the standard neccessary and he now finds himself a long way down in the pecking order and that does not include the youngsters coming through.

He needs to kick start his career and Saints need to clear the path for the youngsters to come on through and Mayuka will add to the total of the transfer fees wasted in our first 18 months back in the Premier along with Gaston Ramirez, Osvaldo and of course the strange case of Vegard Forren.

Photo: Action Images

SonicBoom added 10:11 - Jul 27 Not sure he's going to enjoy playing in front of those Russian crowds......
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schatfield added 10:20 - Jul 27 twas a bad signing (so was Steeeeeeeeeeeeeve De Ridder), all speed and no end product. But you're right, he never made any fuss about not being in the team. I wish him the best (especially with Russia's racist crowds)
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palmsaint added 11:59 - Jul 27 Don't think gaston was a waste to much yes but a good squad player
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SaintBrock added 12:03 - Jul 27 As usual Nick, 2% fact and 98% BS based on unfounded rumours and unidentified sources. Truth is Ron has watched them all together now for 4 weeks in training and in a plethora of friendly games and has drawn up his list of 23 or 24 who will form his first team squad and the handful of others who will make up the numbers for the Europa League. Those who have the wrong profile for the U-21's will be surplus to requirements and loaned out or have their contracts terminated if the club can afford it. These are the days of try before you buy and poor old Emmanuel needs to sharpen up before this club will hand over their roubles for a permanent deal later on. OK, he may have been one of those poor sods who got caught up in a management tug-of-war but on the other hand he's been given plenty of time to settle and make his mark under a number of managers including Ron who appears to be fairness personified. The rest has been down to the player. Sad that he's not good enough for the PL but he is not alone in failing at the final hurdle. There will always be small fish that get caught in a net only to be thrown back into the sea.

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ExiledSupporter added 12:26 - Jul 27 A timely reminder that up until Koeman arrived Reed had made some very poor signings at considerable expense (perhaps under pressure from Cortese), just goes to show that our lauded research capabilities have some times either been ignored or wrongheaded. The moral of the story is not to let Reed have too long a leash which I am sure RoKo won't do.
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SaintNick added 13:07 - Jul 27 SaintBrock I think there is more than 2% fact in this article, yes there is some opinion in there about why Mayuka arrived etc, but this site is about opinion, firstly mine in an article and secondly yours or anyone elses in the comments. The truth is Ronald koeman has worked with Mayuka for a lot longer than four weeks, he had him in his squad for the whole of last season and gave him a few run outs off the bench when we were short thorough injury, he made up his mind about Mayuka a long time ago. It is not that simple to just get a player out on loan or terminate their contract, at least not unless you are willing to pay it up in full. Mayuka was not good enough from day one, he was not worth £3.5 million and your right he was imposed upon Nigel Adkins So in this story it probably a lot more fact than fiction though, most of it is recapping his playing career with Saints, that is definitely fact and not fiction

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halftimeorange added 13:59 - Jul 27 Ah, the strange case of Vegard Forren - sounds like a title from Sherlock. He's still playing for Molde and has won a few caps for Norway. I saw him interviewed in the hospitality suite after a Saints game (when he never featured) and he was very positive about his upcoming chances of breaking into the first team and then, within weeks, he was gone. He came highly rated from Norway and still is as he has 22 international caps. Maybe he didn't fit in at Saints then but we could probably do with him now. Anybody know what happened?

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DPeps added 16:49 - Jul 27 To be fair to Reed, if you look at videos and stats of Gaston and Mayuka before they came to us you can see why we signed them. They were both young when signed and sometimes players don't physically develop in quite the right way. Can't blame Reed for that. I still hope Gaston will turn out to be useful - he might be good (albeit expensive) for Tadic this season. Mayuka is better off moving; good luck to him

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zonehead added 00:12 - Jul 28 Ahh Veggard probably the best centre half in the world
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